


Open Your Eyes

by dreamingofmidnight (RosemaryJames)



Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: also sort of spoilers for an unnamed episode in the end notes, alternative universe, evil!Vex, spoilers for episode 63
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-01
Updated: 2017-05-01
Packaged: 2018-10-26 12:24:27
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,513
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10786701
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RosemaryJames/pseuds/dreamingofmidnight
Summary: AU - what if Vex had said yes to Saundor?





	Open Your Eyes

**Author's Note:**

> Written while I listened to [this song](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0r_lotZ6_V4)

They are shooting at her.

She ducks into the tree, moves, reappears. The goliath roars, the javelin he threw stuck where she was just a second ago. She notches an arrow, aims for him; it hits him in the shoulder, flames licking at his arm, making him drop his axe. Turning, she shoots another arrow, this one aimed for the human with the white hair; it hits him in the leg, but he seems to not pay attention to the pain and instead aims for her love with that strange weapon of his. She doesn’t see if he actually hits Saundor or not, having to duck back in to avoid a second of the strange projectiles this human seems to shoot.

 

_"You can rise above your trembling destiny. I have lived a thousand years and a day. I have seen many things; I can grant many gifts."_

When she comes out again, she is wielding the other bow, but not shooting, not yet. One of the others has shifted, the colour of her hair engulfing her, setting her ablaze. She’s used a spell to walk into one of the treants, setting it ablaze from the inside. Now, that is just _rude_ , destroying one of their pets like that. She aims, fires; two arrows hit the fire elemental, sending electricity through it, the third hits the ailing treant, taking the last of its life.

Saundor is to her left, muttering a spell as suddenly thorns appear all over the floor, hitting the goliath and creeping out towards the others. He then takes his bow, shoots it once, twice; both arrows miss as his target ducks behind the root in the middle of the chamber. She looks over to the other side. The gnome there looks worried, the bell he just rung seemingly not doing what he wanted it to do. He looks like he wants to do something else, but the vines from the side grab him, interrupting whatever it was.

 

_"I will give you the means to protect them… your home…"_

_"And what would you ask in return?"_

_"Your heart."_

 

The white-haired man takes another shot at her, and she tries to duck but feels it hit her arm anyway. She drops her bow and glares at him. Can’t he just leave her alone? Can’t all of them just leave her and her love alone? They came in here, into their home, and attacked them. The person behind the root darts out to throw three daggers at Saundor, aided by a short song from the gnome – she turns her glare on him for a second and turns back just as the first one darts back behind the root, dodging another arrow. The thorns have crept further now – the goliath is pinned by them, raging and cutting himself on them, but not being able to do anything since his weapon is currently on the floor. The fire elemental is doing better, burning them, and slowly moving to the other treant, or maybe to the gnome.

She draws her other bow again, and marks the white-haired man, shooting two more arrows. One hits him in the thigh, staggering him, the other just misses him because of this movement, instead pinning the sleeve of his jacket to the wall. Saundor chants another spell and aims it at the elemental. Its flames dim for a moment and it staggers, but then it presses on. He shoots another arrow at it; it breaks out into brambles that burn on impact. He lets out a wail of frustration and moves to a spot higher up the tree.

 

_The vines reach out to her, wrap around her arms, her legs, her torso, her head, she can’t- she can’t **breathe** , it’s suffocating-_

_“Vex’ahlia!” – her brother shouts._

_Her bro- who is shouting?_

The roots expand, releasing a cloud of poison, forcing the figure behind them to move away, coughing. It also reaches the goliath, who has now realized in how much trouble he actually is and has redoubled his efforts to break free from the thorns digging into his skin. It gets worse when the cloud reaches him and makes him cough, the thorns only digging deeper and drawing more and more blood.

The white-haired man – gods, he’s so _frustrating_ – he breaks free and moves his hand up to Saundor. A cloud of smoke moves to surround him; the man picks up his weapon and shoots once, twice, thrice – he keeps going, shooting six times. Five of the projectiles hit Saundor, one misses; the human looks so smug, and oh, she is going to enjoy wiping that look off his face later. The gnome sings a song which seems to make the fire elemental glow a bit brighter just as it reaches the other treant and starts hitting it, beating it into a pulp. The figure from behind the root seems to recover, dodging another arrow from Saundor and-

and it sprouts wings.

It- _he_ flies up to Saundor, who has just shot another arrow at the gnome (it hits him in the throat and she’s pleased to see he stops moving), and draws another dagger. She watches, as if in slow-motion, as the dagger starts to glow, as the figure flies closer and closer, as he stabs Saundor in the heart.

Time stops, and Saundor falls. The figure turns to her, looking hopeful.

 

_"You've been betrayed?"_

_"We all have, in some degree, yes?"_

 

She _wails_.

She wails, and the sound rips through the chamber, causing chaos. The fire elemental clasps what resemble hands over where its ears should be; the flying half-elf has a fraction of a second where his face drops into confusion before he too clutches his ears, and without his concentration the wings refuse to carry him and send him into a freefall; the human lies slumped back against the wall, blood dripping from one ear.

She doesn’t see it.

All she sees is Saundor. Her Saundor. She moves down as quickly as she can, but in her heart, she knows she’s too late. She felt the moment he died, when control over the tree shifted over from him to her – the half-elf stabbed her loves heart, and it felt like he had stabbed her too. She lands next to him, and falls to her knees. He looks so small lying there, bark having retreated from his skin, leaving only the man she loved. Behind her, she hears movement.

“Vex’ahlia…”

 

_“I just want someone to understand me, that's all. Can you understand me?”_

She snarls, and grabs Fenthras, taking a swing at him that he just barely dodges. She moves, disappearing into the ground, and appearing higher up in the tree. He has moved back a bit, but looks like he is stuck between wanting to run away or towards her. She marks him, and shoots twice; the first arrow misses, the second streaks right past his ear, drawing blood. He, for his part, looks up at her with a look of horror on his face, not even defending himself. She goes in for another attack, notches an arrow, and-

she can’t do it.

For a brief moment, they just stare at each other, him with his hand behind his ear, hovering over where she just shot him, her up in the tree, bow drawn, aiming at his heart. Here she is, pointing a weapon at the one that killed her love, all she needs to do now is release her fingers and the arrow will bury itself in his body, but she _cannot do it_.

And then the fire elemental comes barging in, and the spell is broken.

She snarls again, this time aiming for the elemental. Both arrows hit, making it shift and turn back into the redhead, who then grabs the hand of the half-elf and starts dragging him towards the other side of the room. He resists at first, but she shoots another arrow that just flies over his head and that seems to spur him on. They are at the root now; she releases a disorienting cloud of gas from it, but both of them just shrug it off and keep running. They are almost at the gnome, and the redhead starts to chant a spell. She shoots one last arrow, which splinters and splinters and hits the two of them, but they only stumble a little. A hole opens up, and both of them run for it; in the last moment, the redhead looks back at her, face clouded with fear and grief. And then they are gone.

 

_“I accept”_

She moves down and looks around, at the carnage that was wrecked inside their- inside _her_ home. Where they disappeared stands a tree on the spot the gnome once lied; the human is slumped against the wall next to the exit, dead; the thorns are gone, but the goliath still lies there, covered in scratches, hands near his ears, his axe by his feet; the treants are burning husks. And Saundor lies at her feet, eyes staring into nothingness.

She is alone.

**Author's Note:**

> Alternative titles are 'Vex'ahlia is totally evil now and killing her old friends (and also not remembering them)' and 'in which I deal with character death by writing fic that has even more character death'.
> 
> You can find me on tumblr [ here ](%E2%80%9Ddreamingofmidnight.tumblr.com%E2%80%9D)


End file.
